Smithsonian Magazine: December 2003
Features
A Century of Flight - Taking Wing
From the Wright brothers' breakthrough 100 years ago this month to the latest robot jets, the past century has been shaped by the men and women who got us off the ground
By Andrew Curry
American Bounty
A new book documents a week in the life of America in all its rich, colorful, contradictory, nostalgic, emotional, heartfelt and, oh yes, exuberant...glory
By Smithsonian magazine
To Catch A Thief
When biologists study food theft among endangered roseate terns, they find that crime most definitely pays
By Adele Conover
The Elusive Marc Chagall
With his wild and whimsical imagery, the Russian-born artist bucked the trends of 20th-century art
By Joseph A. Harriss
Iraq's Oppressed Majority
For nearly a century, the nation's 15 million Shiite Muslims have been denied access to political power. How their demands are met in the months to come could well determine Iraq's future
By Andrew Cockburn
Jazzed About Roy Haynes
A robust 78, one of the greatest drummers of all time still riffs up a storm and wows fellow musicians
By Sam Stephenson
Departments
Indelible Images
Too Hot to Handle
Taken at the start of his multifaceted career, Gordon Parks' photograph of a Washington, D.C. worker was so inflammatory it was buried for decades
By Paul Trachtman
Points of Interest
Little Shop Around the Coroner
The Los Angeles County Morgue sells ghoulish souvenirs for a good cause
By Kevin Roderick
The Object at Hand
Prize Fight
Raymond Damadian refuses to take his failure to win a Nobel Prize, for a prototype MRI machine, lying down
By Rick Weiss
Presence of Mind
Who Was Deep Throat?
An investigative reporter enlists his journalism students to help him solve Watergate's most intriguing puzzle
By William Gaines
From the Secretary
A Century's Roar and Buzz
Thanks to an immigrant's generosity, the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center opens its massive doors to the public
By Lawrence M. Small
The Last Page
Dear Santa
The world's most heartfelt wishes find their way to a post office near Rovaniemi, Finland
By Barbara Sjoholm
